


say that again

by wearing_tearing



Series: reality warping [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Naked Cuddling, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 16:03:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4228119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wearing_tearing/pseuds/wearing_tearing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Bucky,” Steve repeats, eyes shining. “I’m going to need you to put on some underwear before you say anything else.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	say that again

**Author's Note:**

> and i'm back!
> 
> based on this au prompt: "I'm going to need you to put on some underwear before you say anything else." ([x](http://bittenprompts.tumblr.com/post/117229147296/ridiculous-sentence-prompts))

“Oh, wow.”

“You can say that again,” Bucky says, his voice muffled against the side of Steve’s neck. He clumsily reaches out to pat Steve in the chest, fingers missing their mark and hitting him on his chin instead.

Steve catches Bucky’s hand in his, bringing it to rest right over his heart. Bucky can feel the rapid beat of it under his palm, his lips twitching at knowing he’s the one responsible for that.

And the way Steve’s breathing is all quick and shallow.

And also for the sweat on Steve’s chest.

 _And_  the mark starting to darken right above Steve’s right nipple.

“That was-”

“Fuckin’ incredible,” Bucky supplies. “You can say it, I promise I won’t get too smug about it.”

“Sure you won’t, Buck,” Steve huffs out a small laugh. “It was, though. Incredible.”

“Might’ve outdone myself.”

“Eh, I wouldn’t go  _that_  far.”

“Punk,” Bucky says, his teeth closing around Steve’s shoulder on a quick bite.

“Jerk,” Steve says. “You love me.”

And now  _Steve’s_  the one that sounds all kinds of smug, not that Bucky can fault him for that.

“Yeah,” Bucky breathes out, nuzzling his nose against Steve’s jaw. “I do.”

It’s kind of hard not to, if Bucky’s being honest with himself. Hell, he can’t even remember a time when he  _wasn’t_  head over heels in love with this idiot.

They met in high school, back when Steve was a tiny little guy with bad lungs and who got himself into all sorts of trouble in the name of helping people who needed it. One of those people being Bucky himself, when he had the bad luck - or the good luck, considering where it all led him - of picking up the last pudding cup during lunch and refusing to let go of it when Rumlow, captain of the wrestling team, told him to.

Bucky still smiles whenever he remembers the way Steve, who was just a bit down the lunch line, walked up to them and told Rumlow to stop being a jerk and knock it off. Even if it all ended with Bucky sporting a black eye, Steve a split lip, and the pudding all over the floor. Because Steve was, and still is, all fire and stubbornness, brightness and goodness, the inability to stand aside when he sees someone being wronged. He was - and still is, always will be - everything Bucky ever wanted and never thought he would get.

But he did, even if it took him about four months after they met to gather up the guts to actually ask Steve out on a date.

“Watcha smilin’ about?” Steve asks, fingers coming up to tangled through Bucky’s long hair, nails scratching his scalp.

Bucky presses his smile more firmly against Steve’s skin, only for a moment or so, before lifting himself up on one elbow and staring down at Steve.

His smile only widens when he sees him, because Steve’s still all flushed and sweating, his wet and a mess, his lips bitten and swollen. He looks good, completely fucked out and satisfied, and Bucky can’t help but give himself a mental pat on that back for a job well done.

“Remember Brock Rumlow?”

Steve blinks once, raising an eyebrow at Bucky. “You were smiling because of Brock Rumlow?”

“I’m-”

"When you’re naked in bed?” Steve continues. “With  _me_.”

“I wasn’t smiling because of him, you idiot,” Bucky says, pinching Steve in the nipple. He laughs when Steve yelps and bats his hand away, and then leans down and kisses him, short and sweet, when Steve starts pouting. “I was thinkin’ of when we first met, remember that?”

“How could I forget,” Steve says dryly, although his eyes and the soft smile curling on his lips speak of fondness and love. “I spend a week trying to eat around the cut on my lip.”

“You were the cutest guy I’d ever seen,” Bucky tells him, totally ignoring the way Steve huffs out an offended breath. “With your thick-framed glasses and that stupid  _look how Manet fucks I give_  shirt-”

“I miss that shirt,” Steve mumbles. “Director Fury made me cross out the  _fucks_ , though. Said he appreciated the sentiment, but it was inappropriate.”

“-marching up to me and ready to save my honor,” Bucky talks over him. “Thought I’d been hit in the head and didn’t even notice, because there was no way a guy as pretty as you woulda been standin’ there ready to take down Rumlow for me over a  _pudding cup_.”

“He was a dick,” Steve shrugs. “And the pudding was yours, you picked it up first.”

“That was one of the best days of my life,” Bucky says, leaning down so he can rest his forehead against Steve’s. “Even though we got suspended for fighting and my Ma made me take Becca to ballet and pick her up every day for a month.”

“The tragedy,” Steve deadpans.

“Shut up,” Bucky says. “I’m trynna tell you something important.”

“And what’s that?”

“That even though I had a black eye and had to be subjected to twelve year old girls giggling and being weirdly picky about how high up their hairbuns would be for an  _entire month_ ,” Bucky says, placing a quick kiss to the corner of Steve’s mouth. “I’d still do it all over again. Because I met you, and you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

"Aw, Buck-”

“'S all true.” Bucky kisses him again, this time on the tip of his nose. “You made me the happiest guy in the world when you agreed to go to the movies with me that first time. Even more when you let me walk you to your door and kiss you goodnight.”

“Been waitin’ for you to that the entire time we were watching  _Lord of the Rings_ ,” Steve admits. “I was gonna take matter into my own hands, but then you decided to stop being a dumbass and do something.”

“Didn’t want you to think I was only after that.”

“A few make out sessions in the movies?” Steve asks. “Wouldn’t have minded, Bucky. I actually would have  _encouraged it_.”

“I know that  _now_.” Bucky snorts, because he does. They’ve been thrown out of a movie theater or four since they started dating. “But at the time I didn’t want to fuck it up. I liked you a lot.”

“You had a huge hopeless crush on me.” Steve grins, eyes crinkling at the corners. “Your luck was that I felt the same way.”

“I thank my lucky stars every night for that, believe me,” Bucky answers, heart tugging in his chest at the sight of Steve looking so  _happy_. And he knows he sounds a little bit breathless and a lot in love when he says, “Steve Rogers, my best guy.”

“Bucky,” Steve says, all soft and low, one of his hands coming up to trace Bucky’s cheek, the bridge of his nose, the curve of his bottom lip.

Bucky kisses the pad of Steve’s finger, his voice low when he says, “Mean it, Stevie. You’re damn right it was my luck you liked me back. Luckiest guy in the whole world, that’s me. That we met young and fell in love and  _stayed_  in love. Hope it keeps that way, for years and years to come; for as long as I live and breathe.”

“Bucky,” Steve repeats, eyes shining. “I’m going to need you to put on some underwear before you say anything else.”

And-

What?

“I-  _What_?” Bucky blinks, completely caught off guard.

“How are we gonna tell our kids that the time their dad proposed we were both  _naked_ and in bed after having the most incredible sex we’ve had in a while?” Steve shakes his head. “I don’t wanna traumatize our children, Bucky. God knows having Tony for an uncle will already take care of  _that._ ”

“I-  _What_?” Bucky repeats, only this time he sounds like someone just punched him in the stomach. Which is kind of what he’s feeling like, to be honest. “Propose? Kids?”

“What?” Steve asks. “I- Isn’t that what you were-”

“It wasn’t.”

And now Steve’s eyes are wide and shiny for an entire different reason, his entire body going tense under Bucky’s.

“I’m- You,” Steve tries, voice shaking. He lets go of Bucky, hands sliding up so his palms are resting on Bucky’s chest. “I’m sorry. I thought- I shouldn’t have assumed that- I’m sorry.”

And Bucky knows Steve is ready to push him away, and he just-

He can’t have that.

Not ever, and especially not  _now_.

“Steve,” Bucky says, wrapping his hands around Steve’s wrist and pinning Steve’s lower body to the bed with his legs.

“I’m sorr-”

“Steve,” Bucky says again when all Steve does is stare at him, wide-eyed and horrified. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not-”

“But it  _is_ ,” Bucky says, licking his lips. His heart kind of feels like it’s about to jump straight outta his chest, but it  _is_  okay. More than okay. “I gotta admit, this wasn’t how I was planning on doing it, but I guess now’s as good time as any.”

Steve makes a choked up sound in the back of his throat, fingers digging into Bucky’s chest. “Bucky, you- If it’s just because you think I- You don’t have-”

“ _Steven_ ,” Bucky snaps, and Steve shuts his mouth with a click. “If you think for one second I’m doing any of what I do with you because I think it’s some kind of-,” Bucky scrunches his up nose, and then spits out, “-some kind of  _obligation_ , then you got another thing coming, pal.”

Steve doesn’t say anything, just presses his lips together in a thin line.

“We’ve been over this,” Bucky says, because they  _have_. When their relationship was new, when Steve was still all skin and bones instead of the solid wall of muscle he is now, when he thought there was no way someone would ever  _really_  want to be with him or could love him. “I said back then that I’d repeat this as many times as you need me to, and that still goes. Even if we haven’t done this in a while.”

Bucky figures Steve will always have moments when he still feels like the little guy he was back when they first met, when he still feels like he’s not worthy of love or that he’s more of a burden than anything else. That kind of thinking doesn’t just go away, even though puberty seemed to catch up with Steve when they started their senior years. Almost eighteen years of not feeling like he’s good enough makes sure of it.

“Buck-”

“I love you for  _you_ ,” Bucky tells him. “Nothing else. Not for what you look like or don’t look like, and not for what you can do or can’t do. I love you because you make me  _happy_ , and you support me, and you don’t take any of my shit. I love you because of  _who you are_ , and I’d gladly spend the rest of my life reminding you of that.”

Steve swallows, his body relaxing under Bucky’s. “I love you too,” Steve says, no more than a whisper.

“Are you going to stay put if I let go of you?” Bucky narrows his eyes are him.

Steve nods.

“Good, because I need to go get something.”

Bucky presses a quick kiss to Steve’s forehead, letting go of him and getting up. He chews on his bottom lip as he starts rummaging through his sock drawer, stomach flipping when his fingers close around what he’s looking for.

“Okay,” Bucky says more to himself than Steve, even though he knows Steve’s gaze is glued on him.

He gets back on the bed, lying down on top of Steve again, and places the little black velvet box right in the middle of Steve’s chest.

Steve’s breath hitches, eyes going from Bucky’s to the box and back again. “You-”

“Like I said,” Bucky murmurs, smiling a little. “This wasn’t how I was planning on doing it, but I  _was_  planning on doing it.”

Steve laughs a little, wet and incredulous. “When did you-”

“Three months ago,” Bucky says, feeling his cheeks heat. “Sam and Nat helped. I was gonna do it on our anniversary but-”

“We got food poisoning,” Steve finishes, and then his eyes flash, disappointed and angry. “I  _knew_  we shouldn’t have eaten that fish. It looked suspicious.”

“ _Deli_ cious, you mean,” Bucky corrects him, and then makes a face. “But yeah, we shouldn’t have. Mighta been able to ask you to marry me if we hadn’t.”

“You can ask me now,” Steve tells him, warm and hopeful.

“Don’t rush me.”

“Don’t make me wait any longer, then.”

Bucky props himself up on an elbow and opens the tiny black box, revealing the simple gold band inside. He picks it up in his hand, fingers shaking a little, and throws the box somewhere in the direction of their nightstand. His heart is doing all sorts of weird things again, like it can’t decide between calming down because he’s been waiting to do this for years or bursting out of his chest because he’s been waiting to do this for  _years_.

“Steve,” Bucky starts, only to promptly choke up on his next words. His throat feels tight with all that he wants to say, words he managed to get out just a few minutes before that now seem lost in the rush of excitement and love and a little bit of fear.

Steve seems to get it, cupping Bucky’s face between his hands and bringing him down until their noses are touching.

“Ask me,” Steve whispers,  _dares_ , pleads him to.

And Bucky does, with his heart in his eyes and his voice low and rough. “Will you marry me?” 

Steve’s smile, when Bucky sees it, would be enough to knock him out on his ass. It’s big and wide and with his teeth showing, it’s full of love and joy and warmth. It’s a smile for Bucky, and it’s a smile that Bucky will never get tired of seeing, not for his entire life.

An entire life he gets to spend with Steve, right by his side.

Because Steve smiles, and Steve kisses him, and Steve says, “Yes.”

*

Steve and Bucky serve chocolate pudding cups in their wedding reception.

Bucky sneaks two into their room later, where they end up having the same fate as the cup from all those years later: splattered all over the floor.

Only this time, instead of getting into a fight with a wrestler, Steve and Bucky wrestle themselves out of their clothes and enjoy their wedding night.

Repeatedly.

“Oh, wow.”

“You can say that again,” Bucky says, his voice muffled against the side of Steve’s neck. He clumsily reaches out to pat Steve in the chest, fingers missing their mark and hitting him on his chin instead.

Steve catches Bucky’s hand in his, bringing it to rest right over his heart. But not before he lifts it up to his lips, placing a kiss to the gold band now sitting on Bucky’s left ring finger.

**Author's Note:**

> [marvel tumblr](http://hawkguyz.tumblr.com/) :D


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